Earphones typically include a housing that holds a speaker and/or a microphone and this earphone assembly is often placed at least partially in the ear canal of a user. Additionally, in some of these previous systems an acoustic tube communicates with the speaker/microphone at one of its ends and provides an acoustic path to/from the user's ear canal via an unobstructed opening at the other of its ends. If the open end of the tube is blocked or sealed in these previous systems, sound quality becomes significantly degraded.
In some circumstances, the user places the unit into their ear and leaves it there for long periods of time without removal. However, in many circumstances the unit is taken in and out of the ear repeatedly. For instance, the user may wish to remove the unit when they go swimming and replace it when they are finished swimming. In other examples, the user may wear the unit on the train or in a car while listening to music, but may remove the unit when they are finished listening to the music.
When the unit is removed from the ear (and sometimes when the unit is present in the ear), it may be exposed to some form of moisture (e.g., dropped in water, inadvertently sprayed with chemicals, or exposed to the elements to mention a few examples). Since the end of the tube is open, water or other types of moisture can easily enter the tube. Sometimes, the moisture can move so far into the tube as to reach where the electrical components reside and the moisture can damage or destroy these components. In other circumstances, the moisture does not move far enough through the tube to contact or damage the components, but instead remains in the tube. This moisture pooling in the tube has the unfortunate effect of damping or blocking the sounds traversing through the tube. In any of these situations, sound quality becomes degraded. Consequently, the user is not able to hear certain sounds, particularly at high frequencies.
Previous approaches have inadequately addressed the above mentioned problems. More specifically, previous approaches have failed to both allow sound to pass in and out of the tube without becoming significantly degraded, and prevent moisture intrusion into the acoustic tube of earphones.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity. It will be appreciated further that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.